A comparison between the Chinese and US internet sectors with a focus on the business structures, investment portfolios and M&As undertaken by Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. (CN)

Supervising professor: Chen Long; Case Researcher: Yang Yan

In 2013, Chinese domestic M&As were going well, most noticably in the Internet sector. The three giants of the Chinese Internet: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, were staking their ground. As the boundaries between them blurred, their overall impact on the domestic internet sector grew. We present the characteristics of the three giants via an analysis and comparison of their business structures and investment practices. We also compare their actions with those of their US counterparts, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, to uncover the root causes of differences between the two internet sectors.